The NOE family from the Meetjesland in East-Flanders, Belgium

B VII d Petrus Noë

Three weeks before her 30th birthday, in the
Graafjansdijk in the district called "den Notelaer" (the Wall Nut Tree),
Sophie was delivered of a third son, who received the same name as his father.

Barely 23 years old he married in Boekhoute on 6/9/1875 with Melanie Martens,
the daughter of Joannes Bernardus Martens and Amelie Roegiest, labourers from
Bassevelde. Melanie
who born in Bassevelde on 10/7/1853 lived as maid-servant in St Jan-in-Eremo where
her daughter Maria Ludovica was born on 29/9/1874. On their wedding day both
recognized the girl as their child.

In 1876 Petrus lived at Meuleken, 71 (Meuleken, here a streetname meaning Little
Mill). One of his neighbours was his brother Ferdinand, but later he moved
to the Posthoorn (post-horn).

Melanie has had to work hard from the very start. Even though times had
been more difficult before; hunger was perhaps not an unknown to her. And
on her way back home Melanie sometimes took some food for the animals or perhaps
some potatoes. But the owners of those fields didn't agree at all and the
gendarmes had already warned her once or twice. On 21/7/1879 she was caught
redhanded stealing beetroots when they were still in the ground. Fourteen
days after the birth of her fourth child she was summoned. She was fined
10 francs and had to pay a further 5.60 francs for the costs of the trial.
That would be the equivalent of about 100 to 110 euros.

In 1884 Petrus already had 6 little mouths to feed. He sent Rosalie to
school when she was only 5 years old. His 3 oldest children already
received free education and he hoped he would also get a free babysitting
service for his little Rosalie. But that was refused and Rosalie like
every other child was expected at school from her seventh year and not a day
earlier.

Petrus was very tall and broad shouldered. He earned his living as a
wood-cutter
(lumberjack). He also had a small farm and a pub called "Noë's
Ark" with a small hall at the back. And in this hall Petrus with his
accordion and his son Domien on the organ took care of the entertainment.

This was very successful especially during the Great War when going out was
restricted. On top of that, Petrus' daughters were very charming and during the
war they probably flirted with the Germans. So after the war as a punishment
for that their hair was cut off. And they then disappeared from
Boekhoute.

But in his pub Petrus was very much in command and he never put up with
brawlers: when disorder threatened he ordered his wife "Méle" to blow
out the lights (this was the time of the petroleum lamps), to open the door and
to break out the chopping knife and soon the rowdies had fled.

Petrus died shortly after the war in Boekhoute on 7 January 1919. In
her old age Melanie became a very obstinate woman. She had always enjoyed
good health and now refused all help from everyone. She died in Boekhoute
on 27 November 1944, well in her ninety first year and in the loneliness which
she herself had sought.

She had given birth to 17 children. Her youngest was born when she was
almost 48 years old.

It is said occasionally nowadays that it was normal in the old days for women
to have many children. This statement is certainly not the whole truth.
The fertility of Flemish women was much higher only from the second half of the
19th and at the beginning of the 20th century. Only
then were big families
the norm rather than the exception. The lower wedding age and better
hygiene on the one hand and breast feeding on the other had a lot to do with
it. But there was also a marked increase in the birthrate in the northern
part of Western Flanders, in the Westhoek and in the Antwerp Campine where cows
milk was substituted sooner for breast feeding.

Breast feeding has an immunizing effect on the suckling baby and a
contraceptive effect on the mother. If the period of breast feeding was
shorter then the interval between successive pregnancies was also shorter.
And this in turn increased the likelihood and gravity of all kinds of childhood
diseases which of course increased infant mortality. This way nature
somewhat compensated for the higher birthrates.

In the second half of the 19th century and at the beginning of
the 20th century half the children came from families with many
children or one third of all couples had 5 or more children to feed. This
was definitely not the case in the 17th and 18th centuries:
because people were older when they married and because of the high child mortality
there were only 2 to 3 children alive in the average family during the Ancien
Regime.

Melanie succeeded in bringing up 11 of her 17 children:

Maria Ludovica Noë
° St Jan-in-Eremo 29/9/1874
Marie Louise married in Assenede
on 14/8/1874 with labourer Theophiel Hamerlynck aka "Thei Keisers".
He was born in Assenede on 10/2/1876 as the son of Eduard Hamerlynck and Clemence
Dhanis. She later lived in the "Staakske" district of Assenede where
she died on 20/4/1951. Theo then moved into the convent in the Leegstraat in
Assenede and died there on 17/3/1953. They had no children.

Clara Noë
° Boekhoute 13/5/1876
She died in Hoek, Zealand, on 19 September 1876. *

Theophiel Noë
° Boekhoute 26/7/1877
He went to live in Bruges, the capital of West-Flanders.
He was a railway man.
On 10 October 1900 in Bruges he married Zoë Verduyn who was born in Passendale on 26/6/1875.
She was the daughter of Bruno Verduyn, clog maker, and of Lucia Vanthornout,
housekeeper, both 66 years old and living in Passendale.
Zoe successfully exploited
an inn. She knew how to deal with those who didn't pay promptly for what
they ordered. She was well known for her expression "Butter with the
fish!". (According to a reader from Zeeland this simply means "No
Credit !") She died suddenly in Bruges on 6/4/1953 after a surgical
intervention. Theophiel died on 15/8/1958, also in Bruges. They had no
children either.

Elodie Noë *
° Boekhoute 6/9/1881
On 16/4/1900 she had a son called Cyriel Noë. When she married Jan Baptiste
Van Hulle on 7/7/1905, Cyriel was recognized as their son and was renamed Cyriel
Van Hulle. Jan, Elodie's husband was born in Philippine (just across the
border in the Netherlands) on 21/6/1879, the son of Franciscus Angelus Van Hulle
and Maria Francisca Pauwels. Jan Baptiste was a fisherman. He was
born in Philippine on 21-6-1879 the son of Franciscus Angelus and Maria
Francisca Pauwels. Elodie was a farm worker.
Elodie died in Philippine on 28/9/1935 and Jan Baptiste passed away in the St Elisabeth
Hospital in Sluiskil (in the Netherlands) on 26 October 1966 and was buried in Philippine.
Cyriel Van Hulle was married in Philippine on 27/4/1925 to Maria Sophia
Bobelijn. She was born there on 17-07-1905, the daughter of Camillus
Bobelijn (farmer) and Rozalia Katharina Bockstael. Rozalia was born in
Philippine on 19-11-1883.
Cyriel and his wife were farmworkers.
Cyriel died in Terneuzen on 30-7-1992.

Maria Barbara Noë
° Boekhoute 14/2/1889
She married Louis Verbiest. They had a butcher's shop in Merelbeke.
They have one daughter.
Maria died in Eeklo on 1/8/1945 and Louis died in Merelbeke on 2/2/1967.

Josephina Benedicta Noë
° Boekhoute 31/3/1890
She married in Boekhoute on 6/4/1910 with René Theophiel De Vleeshouwer, a
labourer who was born in Boekhoute on 7/7/1886, the son of Theophiel De
Vleeshouwer and Mathilde Maes.

Edmond Joseph Noë
° Boekhoute 10/1/1892
He was married in Boekhoute on 17/11/1923. Hermina Vermeulen, his bride was born
in Terneuzen (the Netherlands) on 28/10/1893. She was the daughter of Leonard
Vermeulen and Emilie De Taeye.
Edmond Joseph died in Boekhoute on 14/5/1971.
They had 3 children:
- NN, born and died on 27/6/1924
- Diana Noë was married to Gerard De Cock. They have one son and one daughter.
- Yvonne Noë, twin sister of Diana, married Gilbert Meyvaert. They have 3
sons.

Zulma Maria Noë
° Boekhoute 12/10/1893
† Boekhoute 6/10/1894

Alois Noë
° Boekhoute 5/2/1895
He was a stoker on the railways. He married Hermina Clementina Van Paemel
in Boekhoute on 23/1/1924. She was born
in Assenede on 4/9/1902, the daughter
of Henricus Van Paemel and Emma Vincent. They went to live in St Ghislain, a town near
the French border in the southern part of Belgium.
They had 2 sons:

Arthur Noë
° Saint-Ghislain 1-9-1927
He passed away aged 40.

Joseph Noë

Livinus Richardus Noë
° Boekhoute 21/5/1896
† Boekhoute 17/3/1897

Clara Noë
° Boekhoute 3/6/1897
She married in Boekhoute on 3/12/1919 with Petrus Cocquyt. He was born in
Assenede on 4/3/1890 in the farmers family of Leo Cocquyt and Leonie Marie
Schinkels. They built a farm in Philippine, later exploited by their
son. They also had a daughter.

_________________* Many thanks to Mrs. Marie-Christine Vandevelde who found on the
Zeeuwen-Gezocht website
more information about Cyriel Van Hulle, his wife Maria Sophia Bobelijn and her parents
as well as the date of death of Clara and Elodie (5).
("Zeeuwen gezocht" means Zealanders wanted.)
Many thanks also to Mr. Jackie Claeys for his contribution to this page.